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TRP: Hansel and Mishka (Overkill Comedown)
Morningstar Keep, Day 361. Eventually, Goro had slept, but Hansel hadn't. Even knowing nothing was gonna get to them, he couldn't. Had to keep watch. Besides, he wanted to be awake for every time Goro twitched awake -- be there to whisper and him to him and kiss his hair 'til he drifted back off. The quarters were like the belly of a ship, with no window. Just dark and timeless except the crystal on the bedside table that warned them of storms. It grew brighter with the dawn, and when Goro snuffled his way into being properly awake, Hansel still just shushed him and petted him. By then, though, Goro had slept enough, and he roused himself groggily, looking oddly hungover. He was too keen for his own good and he could tell Hansel hadn't slept -- knew he wouldn't so long as Goro was there, too, most like. So some time a bit after daybreak, Goro dragged his clothes back on and shuffled off to his quarters for his morning prayers. Hansel promised to meet him downstairs for breakfast in a couple hours, and Goro grumbled at him to fuckin' sleep already. Thing was, much as Hansel wasn't gonna sleep while Goro was there, he wasn't great at sleeping by himself, either. He tried, and he drifted closer to the pier, but never quite managed to dock -- just idled a few yards away, pillow held against his chest. COYOTE Dawn broke as they were burning the last of Aleksei’s body. It felt fucking symbolic, somehow. Mishka dragged himself back to the castle. His clothes were soaked with blood. He’d have to burn them, later. He’d be cleaning his ex-boyfriend out from under his nails for days. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. He wanted to sit quietly. No noise. He managed to get up to his room without being seen. Too early. No one was up yet, he didn’t think. He paused at the bedroom door, hand lingering on the doorknob. He closed his eyes. He didn’t want to… bother Hansel and Goro, or upset them. He ought to go sleep in his office on the couch until he was rested enough to cover everything up with bullshit again. But-- he wanted to see them, just for a moment. He’d glance inside and check and make sure they were both still breathing, and then he’d quietly slip out and go sleep somewhere else. He stepped inside the door unsteadily. Hm. There was only one lump inside the bed in the bedroom. Mishka padded over to look. Maybe Goro was underneath Hansel again. IZZY Goro hadn't been gone all that long, so Hansel thought me might've forgotten something -- something slipped out of his pockets, and he hadn't realized 'til he'd gotten back to his own room. Except that when Hansel opened his eyes, a little gummy and bleary, it wasn't Goro tiptoeing back in to poke around and see if he'd kicked something under the bed by accident. It was Mishka. And Mishka was covered in blood. At a glance Hansel couldn't tell if he was hurt or not -- surely he'd go to Goro or Joan or Luci if he was -- unless he'd come to their room assuming, perfectly fucking reasonably, that Goro would be here. Or -- or even if he wasn't hurt badly, because he'd already seen Joan, he still had a fucking black eye. Something had fucking happened. I need to take care of some things, he'd said, and Hansel had accepted it, and not asked what those things were. Just said be safe. And Mishka wasn't fuckin' safe. He lurched upright -- all of that passing through his head in a second -- and reached out to grab at Mishka's waist, pulling him in. Thought to go for his trident, but a different instinct took over, and instead he held Mishka to him and cupped his face with the other hand, a green-gold glow seeping into Mishka's skin from his and healing up the black eye. It ... felt like that was all it'd healed, like that was all that was hurt, but Hansel didn't know for sure. All that blood. Like Mishka'd been at a butchery. "What happened?" he was already whispering. Maybe it was because it was quiet and dark, or Mishka looked slightly dazed. Felt like he should keep his voice low. "What happened?" COYOTE Mishka blinked glassily at Hansel. Goro was not here. Hansel probably knew where he was, though, and he must be good, if Hansel let him out of sight. Mishka folded, docilely, into Hansel’s arms. “I killed him for you.” IZZY Sometimes Mishka said shit without explaining it, and Hansel had gotten fairly good at knowing what he meant anyway -- didn't even have to think about it all the time, just knew -- but that one fuckin' stumped him. Mishka was okay, was the important thing. 'Cept -- who'd he killed? Who did Hansel want dead? Or who might Mishka assume he did? (Wasn't a short list, frankly.) Not important. Hansel tucked Mishka against his chest with the one arm and found his trident with the other -- Taavit's trident, where his blackberry sprig was. He gripped it just long enough the pull the winding vine out of his arm, and whipped it at the door to slam it closed -- just as quick, the vine moldered away into nothing, no thorns, no danger, and Hansel wrapped that arm around Mishka, too, still kind of habitually feeling him over for any injuries. "Okay," he said quietly, still alarmed, but focused. "Okay." He folded his legs under him so Mishka could settle in his lap. "Who ... who'd you kill, ahuvi?" COYOTE Hansel closed the door, and nestled Mishka against his chest, and Mishka… tensed. He thought, You don’t need to protect me. I am no sniveling child in need of a parent. He was Mishka Haeth, and people were scared of him. But the moment of resistance passed, albeit with difficulty. Hansel smelled so familiar, and when he pulled Mishka closer, Mishka automatically found himself shifting to fit properly against Hansel’s body like two interlocking pieces of a puzzle. “Aleksei,” he said faintly. He showed Hansel his fingernails. IZZY Hansel felt himself go pale. Physically felt the blood leave his face. "What?" COYOTE “Aleks.” IZZY Hansel pulled back a little to hold Mishka by the shoulders and stare at him. All right. All right. "We need -- we need to get -- Goro, or --." Ah, but Goro was fucked up, Goro needed to rest, and he needed to pray, and ... "Or Luci, or -- or Amari, uh -- need to -- make sure --." It didn't all come out. He ran his fingers through Mishka's hair, at the temple, anxiously, and leaned back in to kiss his forehead like there was anything Hansel could fuckin' do. Had to be sure. Be sure Aleksei hadn't done something to Mishka's head, gotten in there and fucked around, made Mishka think he was dead. Surely he wouldn't just keep playing the same trick. Right? He had to know they'd caught on by now, had to ... Could be it was a different trick. Could be he'd conditioned Mishka to fight them all, kill as many of them as he could if they tried to fix his memory -- that suggestion spell worked like that, didn't it? Or -- could be this wasn't even Mishka. Could be Aleksei had done something to him, stolen his mask, come back in disguise, all ready to shove a knife into Hansel's skull again -- Hansel held him anyway. Wasn't worth being sure first, on that front. He wasn't pushing Mishka away. COYOTE “Hahaha. No. No, I thought of that. Joan. Checked. Once we were done. And then we waited a half hour, and then we did it again. We can check again. With Luci. Or Goro. or Amari. If you want.” His fingers tightened on Hansel, almost bruising tight. “But please not right now,” he whispered frantically. “Please, no one else yet.” IZZY Hansel swallowed, not sure what to do. Needed to make everything safe and good, first -- (lock and jam the door, shut the window, pull the curtain) -- had to be sure. Aleksei had the ability to call fucking everything into doubt, and Hansel was fucking twitchy and paranoid enough even without any fucking help. But -- but. He squeezed Mishka back, and whispered, "Okay. Okay. You're okay. No one else. I got you, my love, my star, I got you. It's okay." COYOTE “Mm.” Mishka made a muffled noise into Hansel’s shirt. He was staining Hansel’s clothes with blood by sitting on him, and some of it was seeping off onto the bedsheets. “You don’t have to— you don’t have to.” IZZY "Don't ... have to what, ahuvi?" he asked hesitantly. COYOTE “Get me. All the time.” Mishka slid back a little to stare into Hansel’s eyes, lidded and warm and relaxed in his lap. He touched Hansel’s jaw with his fingers. Mishka’s hand was red and white. “I didn’t want him to touch you again. I didn’t want him to look at you. I didn’t want him to— get ahold of Goro, again.” It all came out in a jumbled, distant mess. Hansel did not have to protect him all the time. He’d just wanted to protect Hansel, this time. But— he wasn’t sure Hansel would even appreciate the sentiment, or— want that. IZZY Hansel stared at him, still feeling a bit lost. Supposing nothing bad had happened. Supposing Mishka had just ... left, and gone and killed Aleksei, and that was the only reason he was covered in blood, and Aleks hadn't hurt him -- hadn't touched him, hadn't fucked with him. It wasn't like Mishka wasn't clever enough to pull it off. Wasn't like he wasn't strong enough. Aleksei wasn't a dragon or a god, he was just a fucking elf, and if Mishka had been so fucking infuriated by all that Aleksei'd done that -- He thought about how Mishka had gone icy with rage when he'd found out what Aleksei had done to Goro -- that last straw. How he'd quietly pulled himself together and asked for the bead, in case he needed anything. Need to take care of some things. Mishka business. He was always at his most terrifying and effective when he was like that. Was how he'd broken their relationship, before. Frozen and hurting. Silently, Hansel pulled him back in, wrapped around him as much as possible. He swallowed again, not sure exactly what the fuck he was feeling, now. COYOTE Hansel didn’t say anything— just pulled him in after staring at him for a while. Mishka swallowed, heart beating a little faster, shivering against him. “Are you— mad?” He wondered, briefly, if this was one of those times he’d done something awful and didn’t know it yet. Gone without Hansel. Broken his trust. Hadn’t told Hansel where he was going. Did something Hansel didn’t even want, knowing he didn’t want it. Abandoned him. IZZY Hansel shook his head, faltering. He was, a bit, maybe. Angry in that way he got when he was fucking terrified, but the fact of being afraid was too fucking scary, in itself, so he got pissed off instead, because it was safer than admitting the fear to himself. Either way, Mishka sure as hell didn't need to hear that Hansel was angry with him, right now. "Should've ... shouldn't've fucking gone by yourself," he said, shakily. "Dangerous. You take Joan?" COYOTE “No.” Guiltily. “I’m sorry. I’m— I’m sorry.” Don’t be mad. Don’t get rid of me. Please. Please. “Didn’t need her there,” Mishka said. “Had... had a whole plan. I brought— Larkin. And— she had the bead. To Send with. To Joan, who was waiting back home. Here. At the castle. And Joan knew what to do if something went wrong, if there was an issue. Thought it all out. All of it. She could get you, and tell you, and— I charged that gem of yours with a teleportation circle spell before I left, just in case you or someone else needed to get to Alabaster quickly—“ He fumbled, there. Every word he spoke, he felt sicker, like he’d done something horribly bad. He pressed his face into Hansel’s neck. His eyes stung, and he let out a choked whimper, thinking, Don’t get rid of me. Don’t get rid of me. His fingers dug in tighter like clinging would stop Hansel from pushing him away. Like Hansel wasn’t stronger than him. “I’m sorry,” he said again. IZZY "No, no, hey, hey." Mishka was clinging to him, so he clung back -- curling up on himself, protectively, with Mishka in the center. Okay. Larkin. That was good. Larkin was fucking good. She was vicious and a fuckin' professional. Joan was -- maybe too much like Hansel, honestly, maybe too hot-headed, maybe not so good for a plan like Mishka's. He pressed his face instead Mishka's hair and squeezed his eyes shut. Just couldn't shake the jittery feeling, the nerves. "It's okay," he whispered. "It's okay, ahuvi, it's okay. That's good. Y'did good. Takin' Larkin. That's smart." He swallowed and blinked a couple times, working through it, convincing his body that ... the danger was gone. There was nothing to do. Made him feel helpless in a way he didn't like, but. "You -- you took care of everything, huh?" His voice broke a little bit. "That's good. You're so good. Taking care of us." COYOTE Okay. This was— this was good, he thought, but it was still entirely possible he had done something bad and Hansel was just— taking it. It was hard to tell, sometimes. But he relaxed. You’re good, Hansel said, and Mishka believed him. Mishka was good. “What’s wrong?” he said when Hansel’s voice broke. IZZY "Could've lost you," Hansel managed. "He could've ... fucking taken you away." He swallowed again, harder this time. Still had that doubt in his head, scratching away, all persistent. Something could still be wrong, Aleksei could still be alive -- but he could talk to Larkin and Joan later, make sure everything lined up, get Amari to heal Mishka and be sure, be really sure. "Could've hurt you. Done it before." COYOTE Mishka wet his lips. He thought about the room Aleksei had prepared in advance, the way Mishka’s magic didn’t work inside, the soft and comfy bed, the books. The promise to bring him water. It reminded him of a nightmare he’d had about being locked in a cage and not having anything to eat while Aleksei stood outside. “I know,” he muttered, faint and miserable. “I would’ve— missed you— so fucking much.” Oh god. This wasn’t helping. IZZY "Would've come for you," Hansel said at first, instinctive and fierce, because it was true -- gripping Mishka tighter as he did. But it was just a brief burst of that righteous fury, and it settled, 'cause ... there wasn't any fucking danger. There wasn't anyone to have to get Mishka back from. It was handled. It was done. He couldn't work out quite why that was so hard to accept -- that maybe everything was just kind of ... fine. That they were safe. That it was over. He said it out loud anyway, though, in case Mishka was having a hard time with it, too, in case he needed to hear it. "Don't have to, though." The ferocity softened. "Safe. We're all ... safe." He worried his bottom lip against the broken tusk. He didn't want to -- ask, but -- "Right?" COYOTE "Mm. Mhm. Oh, my god. Hans. Do you-- do you want to know what I did?" He started to laugh. IZZY "Uh. Dunno. Do I?" he asked hesitantly. COYOTE Mishka stared at Hansel adoringly, soft and warm and relaxed. "I went to Aleksei's house. I told him I missed him and wanted to be with him again. I told him I was sorry, begged him to take me back. And then-- Larkin came up behind him, and cut his throat with a wire. Then we... cut out his tongue, and cut off his hands, and teleported his body to the castle. Then..." His voice trailed, faint and half-awake. "Joan revived him. But it didn't bring his hands back. Didn't fix his tongue. So he was just... scared, and screaming." Mishka cupped Hansel's face, then slid his hands down, slowly petting Hansel's back. "And I told him, this is what happens when you touch my fucking husband. And we killed him again, and then brought him back, and then killed him again, and we did that-- three times, I think, and... after the fourth death, he-- turned into a ghost, like... like Asenka, and we killed that too." His voice was very soft, now. "Because that's what happens when people hurt you, Hansel. I love you. I love you, Hansel." He looked at Hansel, doe-eyed, then leaned cozily into Hansel's arms. "And now he's gone," Mishka murmured, pleased with himself. "Really gone. We burnt his corpse. I did that. Me. Mishka." IZZY Hansel listened quietly, watching Mishka melt against him steadily. So many times. So many times -- any time something about Aleksei had come up, any time Mishka had been threatened by anyone else, even if it wasn't a real threat. I'll cut them apart, Hansel would promise, real slow, make'em suffer. Pin them down. Tell'em why this's happening to'em. Let them know this is what happens when someone fucks with my husband. I'll cut them apart, my love, my star, and burn the body, and feed the ashes to sharks. So many times. Mishka'd actually done it. Followed through on all of Hansel's threats. 'Course he had. He started laughing weakly and dropped his face into Mishka's hair. "Good. Good." He choked on it a little and sniffled, but kept laughing. "Yeah, you fucking did. Mishka fuckin' Bell. My husband did that." He kissed Mishka's head a couple times. "So clever. Made it so he could never touch us again. So good." COYOTE Mishka hummed, pleased. Yes. This was good. "I'm sticky," he muttered. "And... I'm staining the bedsheets. And your poor clothes." IZZY "Don't care." He kept kissing Mishka's head. "S'good. Fine. Don't mind a li'l blood." He sniffled again, a little. "'Less you wanna get cleaned up. I'll take care of you, my love. Wash your hair. Sponge you off so gentle. Let you nap in the hot water, mm?" He rubbed his cheek against Mishka's. The nerves were fading, and now he was just ... fucking relieved, and overwhelmed. COYOTE Mishka made an alarmed sound. "No, no, no. Staying. Up here. For-- a while, at least. No magic. Don't want to, to go anywhere. Please. Can we stay here?" IZZY Hansel cuddled him more aggressively. "Shh, sh. Yeah, 'course. S'okay, khochav." COYOTE Mishka sighed. He rested against Hansel for a long moment, until he realized they were both dozing, and then vaguely tried to drag himself off of Hansel's lap to take his clothes off. IZZY Hansel held onto him. COYOTE Mishka tried struggling away harder sheerly for the enjoyment of being held onto. IZZY Hansel made an mmph sound and kept hanging on, eyes closed, insisting, "Don't mind the blood. Stay." COYOTE Mishka giggled. He couldn't figure out how to get off Hansel's lap, so instead he shoved into Hansel to knock him off-balance to see if he could knock Hansel down onto the floor. IZZY Hansel made another grumpy sound and tumbled to the floor, wrapping around Mishka to protect him from the fall and landing on his back with one leg still half up on the bed. He mmph'd again and kept hold of Mishka. COYOTE Hm. Mishka had... won, somehow, but... why had he done this. Now they were on the floor. There was no part two to this plan. Mishka attempted to roll off Hansel's chest. IZZY Hansel did not allow this. COYOTE Mishka squirmed a bit more, then gave up and relaxed happily on top of Hansel. “I love you so much,” he said indulgently. IZZY "Mmm. Mmhm. Love you. So much." He cracked his eyes open, finally, to peek at Mishka. "Yerechi e khochavim. My vicious, pretty pirate prince. My love, my love." He sighed, and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again, resigned to the fact that they'd have to get up. "D'you want me to get you some warm water so you can get clean, ishi? Wouldn't have to leave the room or nothin'. Just stay here." COYOTE “Yes. Please,” Mishka said. He kissed Hansel’s face. He waited for Hansel to let him go before he tried to get up again, sitting contentedly on Hansel’s chest. IZZY Hansel heaved himself upright and sighed into Mishka's hair, holding onto him for another moment. "It's really ... over?" he asked, quietly, one more time. COYOTE “Yes. I’m sorry, neshama. I should’ve waited and let you help me burn the body. Then you could’ve seen.” IZZY "Nah." He shook his head. "S'good." He kissed Mishka head and let him go. "I trust you." Category:Text Roleplay